Leepro Appreciation

[lostinthesupermarket]

I got the Lee Japan 1930s 101b. I sized down two which worked out well.

Fit-wise,these are proper man-pants. The 11 oz denim and the relaxed cut means that I'm looking forward to wearing them this summer.

I put them through a rinse cycle to get the sizing out of them. As a result they shrank almost two inches in the leg and not at all in the waist. I got a little leg-twist, but not much.

One other thing that I noticed was that the buttons are coated and the abrasion in the washing machine chipped off some of the coating on the "Lee Union Alls" words on the buttons so that these are now beginning to be high-llighted in brass . It looks to me like the other, plain buttons are going to corrode pretty quickly on exposeure to water.

I like 'em a lot.

Anyone know what is the closest Lee cut to an LVC 1955? Is it this new James Dean model?

[fardin]

i think the james dean model is mad to be tighter then the other 1950s les models. depends how you wear you LVC 55s. do you size down or wear em fuller. i think the james dean cut is more like the 47, but tghats just a guess.

[crownzip]

I wonder if sizing and shrinking has to do with who made the reproduction? My Real McCoy's 50's Lee 101b's shrunk about an inch in the waist and over two inches in the inseam. All of my Edwin Lee's shrunk very little in the waist and only about an inch in length.

[fardin]

thats interesting grant. how is the cut of the 50s 101b compared to you lee japan 44? and i dont remember how you sized the waist.

from what i understand the new james dean model is made out of organic cotton, much like the warehouse repros. are there acutually any shops in the states that carry lee japan other then BIG with real mccoys?

[crownzip]

Hi Fardin, The Edwin wartime Lee's (upside down arcuate) and '44 Lee's are cut fuller in the seat and appear to have a longer rise than the RM 50's 101b's. Also the legs are cut slightly wider than the RM 50's 101b's but they're still fuller. The tagged waist size of the Edwin's are 33, the RM are 32. Even though the waist shrunk some on RM's they appear to have stretched back out so they fit great.

Compared to the 50's LVC 501's the Lee's are a trimmer fit in the seat. Funny, when wearing the Lee's I get a lot more compliments from the ladies than when wearing my 50's LVC.

I only know of BiG where you can special order RM's. Other than that I rely on friends going to Japan.

[crownzip]

My Edwin war time Lee's seeing a lot of wear while hiking in the Adirondack Mts. of New York.

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

Ah I didn´t know that even Mr. Michael Doulgas is into Denim

anyways, those are coming along really beatiful! and so does

the landscape! are walking the apalachian mountain trail?

[CrashTestBrummie]

Gotta spread rep...great looking jeans, crownzip man

[fardin]

nice pic grant. the 42s look awesome!! and the belt is nice too

[CrashTestBrummie]

Bit of a n00b question, but did the original 1955 101Z have full selvage, or 'half selvage'? I thought it was the latter, but am no expert...

[CrashTestBrummie]

Double posted...

[fardin]

i think back in the 50s there were some with full and some with half. thats why there are those different repros. james deans private lee 101Z had full selvage. maybe his film pants too.

[CrashTestBrummie]

Thanks fardin, gotta spread rep...

[crownzip]

Cool photo Fardin! Thanks for posting. Here's a couple photos of one of my favorite Lee jackets - the 91-B. This one dates from the 50's or early 60's. I think Dean wore one of these when he lived in Indiana.

[CrashTestBrummie]

There's a vintage clothes place in town that has a similar jacket to that on sale (it had a coloured/patterned lining, if I remember correctly)...I tried it on recently as I loved the look of it. Great jacket, but definitely not for people with big shoulders - made me look like the Incredible Hulk, with added shoulder pads!

[jstavrin]

How's the quality on Lee-made repro jackets?

Denime has one that looks gorgeous but it's really expensive.

[entertainment!]

How's the quality on Lee-made repro jackets?

Denime has one that looks gorgeous but it's really expensive.

I have an Edwin Lee 1937 jacket, made in China. The quality is nice, both the denim and the construction. It has a nice slim fit similar to the 1934 one Dr Heech posted pictures of not long ago. Got it off of ebay for around $100. I have also seen the 1944 version but didn't like it so much. Coarser denim and double stitching instead of triple stitching. The color is much lighter than the really dark 1937 denim which I think is beautiful stuff. Also no cinch on the 1944.

[fardin]

the quality of the jackets is realy great. agree with what entertainment says. specially if you consider the price!!

grant the jacket is beautiful.

[fardin]

here is a great pic od the 40s 101j transition model, with cowboy buttons. thats the real deal, no repro

http://rugged.jp/topics/?date=20100411215809

plus some nice lee union alls of the 1910s and 20s

http://rugged.jp/topics/?date=20100402215942

[fardin]

check out this link on cant bust em overalls!!! it makes me feel ashamed but i guess thats part of history, and of corse is still happening today.

http://referencelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/03/heynemann-co.html

[lostinthesupermarket]

Wow.....horrendous. That story really shows how jeans encapsulate a lot of social history in a single piece of clothing.

I have a technical question. What was the difference in how half selvedge cloth was produced as opposed to full selvedge? Were different ( wider?) looms used or was it just a question of utilizing the fabric produced by full selvedge looms differently when the jeans were made up?

edit: Shoulda used the search function. For anyone else interested, the answer to my question can be found in this thread: http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=7156&page=2

[Chicken]

Chicken, Real McCoy's does an amazing job reproducing the 101Z and earlier crotch riveted 101B. You're going to have fun breaking those in!

so i finally started wearing my mccoy 101z few weeks ago. it's been a while since i broke in a new pair. pre-soak:

after hot soak:

i think they didn't shrink a whole lot, but just enough for the denim to drape better on me.

[aho]

glad to see you back around these parts chicken! Post more whenever you can and btw great fit! Not too many Leepros on here...

[coleslawyum]

^^Welcome back in spectacular fashion! Those are the loosest jeans I've ever seen you wear. I'm starting to think that McCoy's makes all their jeans a bit oversized.

[jwsach]

i think back in the 50s there were some with full and some with half. thats why there are those different repros. james deans private lee 101Z had full selvage. maybe his film pants too.

as paul T's book notes... James Dean may have actually been a Levi's man

just some random fact I remembered

[Chicken]

thanks guys.

coleslaw, i actually went a little looser than usual on these on purpose. i wanted to see if going looser could affect the overall durability of the denim. pretty much all my undersized jeans end up needing repairs after about 6 months or so. maybe these will last a little longer.

[fardin]

hey chicken nice to see you back, and great looking 101Z.

@jwsach well he wore levis to, but in the last two years of his life he was a definite lee guy so to say. there are only pics of him wearing lee jeans, and only in two tv movies he is wearing 501s. other then those tv flicks i have seen no pics of him wearing a levis

[rungo]

as paul T's book notes... James Dean may have actually been a Levi's man

just some random fact I remembered

If you look closely, in at least Rebel, he's wearing Lees, and a quick google image search turned up some pics where you can see left hand twill leg twist, which would indicate Lee.

I'm sure theres someone out there with more exhaustive information.

[crownzip]

Hi Chicken, Your 101z's look like they fit well. It'll be interesting to see how your 101Z fades compare to my 101B's over time. Sort of like our own little Lee contest. haha

[fardin]

really sounds like a private contest. :-) they denim looks amazig on them, had a chance to see the taxi driver at BIG, great

@james dean

not that its to important, but i have posted some pics of dean wearing lee privat. if you cant believe then just go and check the works of sanford roth, roy schatt, dennis stock, frank worth, floyed mccarty et al... ;-)